In recent years, in the field of digital cameras, camera-shake compensating mechanisms are disclosed as an image capturing element moving method, in which an image capturing element is mounted in the lens barrel and moveable in two directions, and further the image capturing element is moved corresponding with the shake of the image capturing device (for example, see Patent Document 1). In the above conventional camera-shake compensating mechanisms in which the image capturing element is moved, a guide shaft to move the image capturing element, which is rectangular, is aligned along a direction (hereinafter referred to as direction “H”) parallel to the long side of the image capturing element, and the other guide shaft is aligned along a direction (hereinafter referred to as direction “V”) parallel to the short side of the image capturing element.
Because in order to make a thick digital camera, no space is available behind the image capturing element. That is, in the structure of the conventional camera-shake compensating mechanism, both a driving device (being a driving shaft and a driving element), and the image capturing element, are provided on a common plane with respect to the optical axial direction of the image capturing optical system, whereby the driving shafts are aligned in directions H and V, which effectively uses space within the digital camera.
Further, a method to improve the ability of the camera-shake compensating mechanism is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 2), in which the camera-shake compensating means is installed 45 degrees declined against the vertical direction in the plane perpendicular to the optical axis so that the image capturing element can be moved farther in a specific direction. The method, described in Patent Document 2, moves the image capturing element in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the image capturing optical system, while directly using the camera-shake compensating means. Accordingly, in order to move the image capturing element in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the image capturing optical system, the camera-shake compensating means and the image capturing element must be arranged in the same plane.
Further, in order to design thin digital cameras, a bent optical system is also proposed in which the lenses do not project in front, even though a zooming operation is conducted, while the thickness of the camera does not change (for example see Patent Document 3).
[Patent Document 1] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-110,928
[Patent Document 2] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-77,711
[Patent Document 3] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-131,610
However, in the case that the camera-shake compensating mechanism shown in Patent Document 1 is used on a thin bodied camera incorporating the light bent optical system shown in Patent Document 3, when the optical axis is bent at 90 degrees by the bent optical system toward the bottom side in the thin bodied camera, the image capturing element is to be mounted with its image capturing surface facing upward at the bottom of the thin bodied camera, and thereby, the spaces around the image capturing element, in particular, the space in direction V is very narrow, therefore, a guide shaft can not be assembled, even if the guide shaft is assembled in spite of this reason, the length of the guide shaft becomes so short that resonant frequency is reduced, and movement is too slow, or the movement is not stable, which results in problems.
Further, in the case of the camera-shake compensating means shown in Patent Document 2, space around the image capturing element is so small that the image capturing element and the camera-shake compensating means can not be assembled on a common surface, accordingly, the camera-shake compensating means of Patent Document 2 can not be applied to the thin bodied camera incorporating the light bent optical system shown in Patent Document 3.
Still further, in the thin bodied camera incorporating the light bent optical system, to arrange a flexible circuit board, through which electrical power and control signals are supplied to the image capturing element, while output signals from the image capturing element are sent to a CPU, the flexible circuit board may be bent at a sharp angle, because the space around the image capturing element is so narrow that the image capturing element may be driven by very large force due to the flexibility of the flexible circuit board (which is flexible but damage-resistant), which causes a major problem.